Ettore Bolisani and Fabrizio Damiani
This paper aims to illustrate the peculiar knowledge management (KM) issues in UN peacekeeping, the practices adopted, their practicability and problematic aspects.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to illustrate the peculiar knowledge management (KM) issues in UN peacekeeping, the practices adopted, their practicability and problematic aspects.
Design/methodology/approach
This case study deals with a “frontier” experience that summarizes many elements of complexity of public decision making, such as: uncertainty, multiplicity of goals and tasks, participation of different and often conflicting stakeholders, different levels of authority, etc.
Findings
The case study shows that transposing today's lessons into the future – which is a major goal of KM – is intrinsically difficult in the case of global and multidimensional decision making. KM systems must evolve and adapt continuously. Closing the nexus between KM and policy making could make policies more responsive to the evolvement of internal and external conditions, but turning knowledge into policy means that knowledge should not be disconnected from its sources, in terms of people and places.
Practical implications
The analysis of the UN experience provides food for thought for all the professionals and organizations alike involved in KM processes of comparable complexity.
Originality/value
From a conceptual viewpoint, the study addresses the important issue of KM applied to complex policy‐making processes. The study of the KM solutions adopted to face this complexity provides insights for both scholars and practitioners.
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Mirella Damiani, Fabrizio Pompei and Andrea Ricci
– The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of performance-related pay (PRP) on productivity and wages of Italian firms.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of performance-related pay (PRP) on productivity and wages of Italian firms.
Design/methodology/approach
A unique data set for the Italian economy, obtained from the ISFOL Employer and Employee Surveys (2005, 2007, 2010), is used to estimate the relationship between PRP, labour productivity and wages, also controlling for an ample set of covariates. The authors performed standard quantile regressions (QRs) to investigate heterogeneity in associations of PRP with labour productivity and wages. In a second stage, the endogeneity of PRP was taken into account by using instrumental variable QR techniques.
Findings
The econometric estimates suggests that PRP are incentive schemes that substantially lead to efficiency enhancements and wage gains. These findings are confirmed for firms under union governance and suggest that well-designed policies, that circumvent the limited implementation of PRP practices, would guarantee productivity improvement and wage premiums for employees.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of the findings concerns PRP data, that do not offer statistical information on different types of schemes, at group or individual level.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to investigate, on a national scale for the Italian economy, the role of PRP on both productivity and wages, in order to shed light on the efficiency and distributive implications, whereas most of the studies of related literature are restricted to one of those aspects.
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Daniela Carlucci and Antonio Lerro
Organizations are increasingly aware that to face complexity and uncertainty in today's business landscape, it is important to properly exploit, combine, and continuously develop…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizations are increasingly aware that to face complexity and uncertainty in today's business landscape, it is important to properly exploit, combine, and continuously develop their intellectual capital (IC). In this introduction to the special issue the aim is to develop some theoretical and managerial reasons explaining the importance of IC to achieve business excellence; then, to call for renewed analysis in the IC research stream aimed to investigate what are the new key intellectual capital dimensions and traits to be better developed and managed in order to deal with the fluidity of business, uncertainty, crisis, change, turbulence and high competitive pressure.
Design/methodology/approach
The approaches, evidences and insights discussed in this introduction are largely based on the discussion of the topics of the conference “International forum on knowledge assets dynamics” organized in June 2010 in Matera, Italy. At this conference, leading experts discussed the importance of intellectual capital for organizational business excellence in the twenty‐first century, the new IC key‐value drivers to manage in order to face emergent competitive scenarios, and research and management practices for addressing complexity, uncertainty and changes of today's business landscape.
Findings
The outcomes of this introduction and the contributions to the special issue reflect the emerging discussion about the role of IC management constructs. This discussion is largely focused on the importance of translating IC management within organizational components for achieving business excellence, highlighting approaches and tools in different contexts of analysis.
Originality/value
This introduction as well as all the contributions to the special issue deal with different aspects, which are important in the discussion of the role played by IC in achieving organizational business excellence as well as the approaches, tools, methods and techniques to better disentangle the mechanisms by which IC dimensions, separately or interdependently, contribute to improve companies' organizational performance.
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Salvatore Ammirato, Laura Cutrì, Alberto Michele Felicetti and Fabrizio Di Maio
The purpose of this study is to highlight how the digitalization of a public university through a structured Business Process Management (BPM) approach allows for a significant…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to highlight how the digitalization of a public university through a structured Business Process Management (BPM) approach allows for a significant performance improvement, even in a bureaucratized context not inclined to process thinking.
Design/methodology/approach
The used research methodology centers on a single case study conducted at an Italian public university. The selected process has been examined and redesigned within the BPM lifecycle framework. The AS-IS and TO-BE state, i.e. before and after the organizational change, have been modeled according to BPMN2.0 notation and evaluated through quantitative and qualitative techniques.
Findings
The authors first carried out a literature review to identify pertinent performance indicators suitable for assessing a BPM project within a public organization. Secondarily, applying the BPM framework to the case study enabled significant improvements in the quality of the process. Third, the authors analyzed the impact on people and the organization and how to soothe the transition to a digitalized process.
Originality/value
The study’s findings can contribute to the existing body of knowledge on BPM as a digitalization approach in the public sector. The case study is the first of its kind in the higher education context. Its value also resides in highlighting the efficacy of using BPM as a guiding tool for making organizational and technical decisions during the implementation phase within the specific context of this paper.
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Alessandro Creazza, Umberto Restelli, Emanuele Porazzi, Elisabetta Rachele Garagiola, Davide Croce, Marisa Arpesella, Fabrizio Dallari and Carlo Noè
The purpose of this paper is to develop a benchmarking framework for assessing the performance of the distribution models adopted by the local branches of National Health Services…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a benchmarking framework for assessing the performance of the distribution models adopted by the local branches of National Health Services (NHSs) for delivering health technologies to patients at a local level, and to derive prescriptions for enhancing design and optimal management of the distribution models.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors focussed the study on the distribution of absorbent devices for incontinence, adopting the analytic hierarchy process as a tool for developing the benchmarking framework. The authors applied the framework to the context of the Italian NHS with respect to the Lombard Local Health Authorities, assessing their performance in terms of operational efficiency and service quality.
Findings
The developed framework constitutes a novel contribution, and it allows for generating prescriptions. Through its application to the context studied the authors found that a “one-size-fits-all” distribution model cannot be proposed, as regards both efficiency and effectiveness, since process standardization does not provide benefits or savings in all contexts. Rather, a total landed cost approach in the evaluation of the distribution practices must be adopted.
Practical implications
This paper offers to managers and decision makers an innovative approach to the design of distribution models for health technologies. It provides policy makers with prescriptions to develop regulations fostering a comprehensive view of the factors for an optimal health technologies distribution at a local level.
Originality/value
Given the dearth of scientific publications focussed on the distribution at the local level of health technologies, this paper significantly contributes to the existing body of knowledge and it offers an innovative framework which can be proficiently replicated in manifold contexts.
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Alessandro Muscio, Gianluca Nardone and Antonio Stasi
Technological regimes define the environment in which innovative and learning activities take place in each sector of the economy. In this paper, the authors argue that…
Abstract
Purpose
Technological regimes define the environment in which innovative and learning activities take place in each sector of the economy. In this paper, the authors argue that technological regimes must be interpreted and elaborated by each organisation operating within a sector in order to be implemented rationally, which leads us to the concept of perceived technological regimes.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors tested the relevance of firms' perceptions of different technological regimes on a sample of wine companies in Italy. The authors run a questionnaire survey and obtained 334 clean responses. Data drawn from questionnaires were analysed via econometric analysis.
Findings
The authors present empirical evidence that this perception tends to vary across different wine technologies. Additionally, the authors find evidence that firms' technology adoption, absorptive capacity and external knowledge sourcing have a strong impact on their perceptions of the relevance of a given wine-making technology.
Originality/value
While individual technological regimes are characterised by systematic differences in the distribution of heterogeneous firm types, previous empirical studies have not explored whether the technological environment defining a given industry is differently interpreted and elaborated by each firm operating in it.